How is it that I'm in such a happy, giddy mood, in the midst of this dog show craziness? The big Rose City Classic is in less than two weeks. It opens with "Specialty" shows on a Wednesday, meaning individual breed clubs hold their owns shows that are kind of a fun celebration of their breeds. Then the regular all-breed shows start on a Thursday and run through Sunday.
This is hardly a "regular" dog show, though. We have over 3,300 dogs entered by the time we get to the weekend. That's HUGE. Yes, and as someone pointed out to me the other day: That's a lot of dog poop.
I think our "cluster," meaning a group of back-to-back shows that cover more than a 2-day weekend, is still considered the largest indoor dog show west of the Mississippi. (I still think it's funny that we use the Mississippi River as a dividing line when we determine how big something is.)
In a weak moment I was convinced to say "Yes" to being the Show Chairman for our kennel club for 2012 and 2013. It's a 4-day show and we have two of the days, and the other club has the other two. However, what makes this cluster unique, and one of the many things that gets us compliments, is that the two clubs get along well and work to make the 4 days seamless so outside of seeing a different kennel club's name attached to the show information, if you're there, it's pretty darn hard to know the difference from day-to-day. That is often not the case when clusters are produced. It can get very territorial, which seems stupid, but it happens more often than not. Thankfully, our two clubs don't work that way, and we've reaped the benefits of that. The cluster has a fabulous reputation and it's considered one of the top series of dog shows in the U.S.
I think part of the reason we get along is out of necessity because this behemoth is just way too much to handle on your own, and we really need each other to pull this off. When you're putting over 3,300 dogs in a facility that has over 330,000 square feet, and mix in the 2-legged entourages that come with the dogs, it's a matter of survival that you get along. (The 2-legged are the tough ones to handle. The 4-legged ones are easy to deal with.)
With this being my first year as a Show Chair, at times I've felt moments of panic, thinking, "What in the world am I doing?" Thankfully I have a fabulous Show Chair with the other club, who is the lead of the cluster. Mary is the Obi-Wan Kenobi to my floundering Luke Skywalker. I don't know where I would be without her. When you look up the definition of "Grace under pressure" you will find Mary's picture. She's been a teacher, mentor, counselor, ship captain, and a true friend in this last year.
Today as she has been working on the judge overloads, which is what happens when you get an overwhelming number of entries, far beyond what you thought, and you find that your judges now have way more dogs than they're allowed to judge in a day (the limit is 175) so you're then scrambling to hire a few extra judges, I've been working on NEXT year's show with my new partner from their club, John. We all commit to the job for two years, but we stagger when you're a "newbie" so I'll be the veteran for 2013 and John will be the new guy.
As I've dealt with questions from Mary today on this year's show and worked on getting things in order for what's ahead in two weeks, John and I were discussing judges and plans for a year from now. It hit me that in the midst of all of this, I'm loving it! I'm a little shocked because this show has caused plenty of stress in the last year and I've even had moments of resenting how much time it's taken....time when I passed up things with my family, etc., to work on dog show "stuff." But I've made a commitment so I've sucked it up and said, "Get over it!" But today, I'm feeling this giddy happiness. I think part of it is the fear of the unknown is over. I feel comfortable with what it takes to pull this off now.
Secondly, I know it's the core of why I do all of this: I just love dogs. Period. They say most people who step into the dog show world drop out quickly and never make it to even 5 years. If you make it past that point, it's believed you have what it takes to handle it. It's not an easy "hobby," although I think it's not a hobby so much as it's part of your life. It takes a lot of sacrifices and you face a lot of heartbreak and disappointment.
But I still feel the benefits out-weigh the tough times. I have 5 of those benefits snoozing at various locations in the living room at this moment.
It's going to be a fun, crazy, tiring, but rewarding 2 weeks.
With a lot of dog poop.
But that's okay. I can't wait.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
A new year and a new attempt at keeping up with my writing. You know how I wrote back in October that I was inspired to write by a guy named Tim Miles who writes a blog called "The Daily Blur?" I was inspired, truly I was. But then Tim never wrote again for the remainder of the year, and it was like that gave ME permission to not write either. Weird rationale there, I know, but I think that happened.
Well, Tim is back and vowing that if he is going to call his blog "The Daily Blur," then he needs to write it DAILY. First-off, I'm glad he feels that way because I can't wait to read it, but I also think it just might keep me in line.
I hope. It's a matter of doing what Tim wrote in his first installment for the year, quoting William Wordsworth, "To begin, begin."
He also wrote about how he thinks it's better to not make a list of overwhelming resolutions for the new year, but rather set a theme for the year that you're going to try to follow in all things you do. He's done things like "The Year of Atonement" and he's dubbed 2012 "The Year of Sucking It Up."
I like this whole idea. One year his theme was "The Year of Saying No." Boy, do I really get THAT one. I'm weak in that area, or have been until about the last year. When somebody asks me to take something on, do this, serve on a board, etc., I've found it difficult to disappoint them, to say "No, I don't have the time," but after having things pile up and spreading myself far too thin, then getting resentful, I've gotten better at saying, "No can do, sorry" and the world hasn't stopped spinning. Go figure.
So, what could be a good theme for me for 2012?
"The Year of Not Saving Boxes" perhaps? Yes, that's another weakness. I hate to throw out boxes. How many times have you needed a great box and you haven't had one? Ha, see, you've experienced that! Well just come to my garage. I'm sure I have one. Actually, I only have a few piling up now, and they ARE sitting by the recycling container. I just haven't broken them down yet. But when I do, I always think, "Oh, but what if I need this exact box for something next week?"
Wait....there's another one: "The Year of Not Asking 'What If?'" That might be a female thing, now that I think about it. We are kind of wired to do that. "But what if I do THAT, and then THIS happens, and THAT happens, and what if when THAT happens, THIS then happens?" You get the picture. Not sure the hormones can enable me to stop that, but I can, and do, work on it.
Perhaps 2012 is "The Year of Folding the Clothes When the Dryer Stops."
Wait, I can tell you right now that is NOT going to happen, so let's just move right along.
Seriously, I'm not sure I have it figured out yet, or maybe I haven't figured out how to put it into words, but when it comes to writing, I think "Editing" is a key theme: Edit myself so that I can write more by writing less (does that make sense? It does to me.) What I mean is, if I edit myself so that I don't write a novel each time, I think I'll be more likely to write fairly frequently. The whole "Less Is More" kind of thing. Like I said, it makes sense to me, so we'll just go with that.
I know in my writing I have edited myself in one sense, in that I've never talked about anything personal, meaning my personal life. There's a reason for that, and if I decide that 2012 is the year where I'm brave enough to go down that path in my writing, so that it's the full picture and not just me talking about life with my dogs, you'll hear about it. I need to give that some more thought, however. Stay tuned. That could be very scary. If I get brave enough to write about it, you'll know why I say that it's scary.
It's interesting how that inability to say no that I spoke of earlier plays into my not having time to write. I couldn't say "No" when asked to be the Show Chairman for this monster of a dog show coming up in 2 weeks, and it's been like a second job this last year. There have been nights when, rather than being up until 1 AM writing my blog, I've been up late dealing with dog show details. Several nights I was close to falling victim to what my 18 year old nephew refers to as "Waffle Face"----when you get so tired while sitting at the computer, you fall forward with your face on the keyboard, fast asleep, waking up to see that those keys left you with waffle-like indentions on your face. My nephew, the computer gaming expert that he is, swears it's happened to him more than once. Waffle face.....who knew?
I still have one more year of my Show Chair duties as once we get past this 2012 dog show in two weeks, it's time to turn our attention to the show in January of 2013. That means I'm going to have to strike a balancing act between all of this.
If you see me some morning looking like a fresh Belgian Waffle, check my blog. I probably was writing the night before.
Well, Tim is back and vowing that if he is going to call his blog "The Daily Blur," then he needs to write it DAILY. First-off, I'm glad he feels that way because I can't wait to read it, but I also think it just might keep me in line.
I hope. It's a matter of doing what Tim wrote in his first installment for the year, quoting William Wordsworth, "To begin, begin."
He also wrote about how he thinks it's better to not make a list of overwhelming resolutions for the new year, but rather set a theme for the year that you're going to try to follow in all things you do. He's done things like "The Year of Atonement" and he's dubbed 2012 "The Year of Sucking It Up."
I like this whole idea. One year his theme was "The Year of Saying No." Boy, do I really get THAT one. I'm weak in that area, or have been until about the last year. When somebody asks me to take something on, do this, serve on a board, etc., I've found it difficult to disappoint them, to say "No, I don't have the time," but after having things pile up and spreading myself far too thin, then getting resentful, I've gotten better at saying, "No can do, sorry" and the world hasn't stopped spinning. Go figure.
So, what could be a good theme for me for 2012?
"The Year of Not Saving Boxes" perhaps? Yes, that's another weakness. I hate to throw out boxes. How many times have you needed a great box and you haven't had one? Ha, see, you've experienced that! Well just come to my garage. I'm sure I have one. Actually, I only have a few piling up now, and they ARE sitting by the recycling container. I just haven't broken them down yet. But when I do, I always think, "Oh, but what if I need this exact box for something next week?"
Wait....there's another one: "The Year of Not Asking 'What If?'" That might be a female thing, now that I think about it. We are kind of wired to do that. "But what if I do THAT, and then THIS happens, and THAT happens, and what if when THAT happens, THIS then happens?" You get the picture. Not sure the hormones can enable me to stop that, but I can, and do, work on it.
Perhaps 2012 is "The Year of Folding the Clothes When the Dryer Stops."
Wait, I can tell you right now that is NOT going to happen, so let's just move right along.
Seriously, I'm not sure I have it figured out yet, or maybe I haven't figured out how to put it into words, but when it comes to writing, I think "Editing" is a key theme: Edit myself so that I can write more by writing less (does that make sense? It does to me.) What I mean is, if I edit myself so that I don't write a novel each time, I think I'll be more likely to write fairly frequently. The whole "Less Is More" kind of thing. Like I said, it makes sense to me, so we'll just go with that.
I know in my writing I have edited myself in one sense, in that I've never talked about anything personal, meaning my personal life. There's a reason for that, and if I decide that 2012 is the year where I'm brave enough to go down that path in my writing, so that it's the full picture and not just me talking about life with my dogs, you'll hear about it. I need to give that some more thought, however. Stay tuned. That could be very scary. If I get brave enough to write about it, you'll know why I say that it's scary.
It's interesting how that inability to say no that I spoke of earlier plays into my not having time to write. I couldn't say "No" when asked to be the Show Chairman for this monster of a dog show coming up in 2 weeks, and it's been like a second job this last year. There have been nights when, rather than being up until 1 AM writing my blog, I've been up late dealing with dog show details. Several nights I was close to falling victim to what my 18 year old nephew refers to as "Waffle Face"----when you get so tired while sitting at the computer, you fall forward with your face on the keyboard, fast asleep, waking up to see that those keys left you with waffle-like indentions on your face. My nephew, the computer gaming expert that he is, swears it's happened to him more than once. Waffle face.....who knew?
I still have one more year of my Show Chair duties as once we get past this 2012 dog show in two weeks, it's time to turn our attention to the show in January of 2013. That means I'm going to have to strike a balancing act between all of this.
If you see me some morning looking like a fresh Belgian Waffle, check my blog. I probably was writing the night before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)